It is exactly 30 years since the Falklands War broke out between Argentina and the United Kingdom, a conflict initiated by the Argentine invasion of the South Atlantic islands. To counter the occupation, the Royal Navy (RN) dispatched a naval task force and one of its members was the Type 42 guided-missile destroyer HMS Sheffield (D80). A total of 14 Type 42 vessels were built for the RN, and ironically, two were also constructed for the Argentinian Navy. Commissioned on 16 February 1975, HMS Sheffield was the first of class, and it is best known as being one of the ships sunk during the Falklands War. Sheffield's demise came about on 4 May 1982 when she was struck amidships by an AM39 Exocet sea-skimming anti-ship missile. Caught totally off-guard by the attack, the Exocet had been launched more than 30km away from a Super Etendard aircraft from the Argentine Navy. Even though the missile failed to detonate, its impact holed the hull and severed fire mains, which meant the crew could not extinguish the resulting fires. HMS Sheffield eventually foundered on 10 May and 20 crewmen lost their lives.

In Dragon's series of models commemorating the Falklands War, the next subject to be released is a 1/700 scale kit of HMS Sheffield. This Type 42 guided-missile destroyer kit appeared in Dragon's range some time ago, but it has been specially updated for this special edition. As a bonus, the kit offers a set of new photo-etched components that elevate this kit to a whole new level of finesse and detail. It also features newly created Cartograf decals. Significantly, Sheffield was the first RN vessel sunk in action since WWII, and this release from Dragon commemorates her contribution to this short but intense conflict of 1982.